Oppo’s new foldable phone may have solved the crease problem

The city has a new foldable phone. Oppo Find N launched its latest Find N foldable phone on Wednesday, the second day of its “Inno Day” event, after unveiling its new foldable device last week.
The new smartphone, available only in China starting December 23rd, is slightly smaller than competing foldable devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold lineup. The Find N has a similar design to the Z Fold, but with a 5.49-inch external display and a 7.1-inch internal display. On the other hand, the Samsung smartphone has a 6.2-inch front display and a 7.6-inch display when unfolded.

Like the previous clamshell phone, the Find N has a wider 18:9 aspect ratio, making it more natural to use as a regular phone when closed. Meanwhile, Samsung is offering narrower bezels in its Z Fold lineup. Like the
Z-Fold, the Find N has five cameras. The interior and front screens feature a 32MP punch-hole camera for selfies and video chats, while on the back there are three additional sensors: a 50MP main camera, a 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 13MP telephoto.

A Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and 12 GB of RAM power devices running Oppo ColorOS 12 based on Android 11. As expected, it has Oppo’s fast wired and wireless charging capabilities, and the Find N supports the company’s 33W SuperVOOC. Flash charging for wired charging and 15W AirVOOC for wireless charging with regular Qi wireless charger. There’s also 10W reverse wireless charging, so you can charge other devices wirelessly. The
company says the phone and 4,500mAh battery can discharge to 55% in 30 minutes and 100% in 70 minutes when using SuperVOOC wired charging. The
Find N isn’t IP68 rated for water and dust resistance, but Oppo says “it goes through rigorous water and durability testing to make sure your device can easily handle things like sweat, moisture and light rain. It’s found in everyday use.” .”Opo’s first foldable

case is more of a design than a design. The Find N’s hinge uses what Oppo calls “water droplets” to allow the phone to fold more evenly. That means there are no wedges or gaps when the screen is folded, and there are far fewer noticeable wrinkles when using the internal display.
Oppo, citing test lab TUV, says the Find N has folds that are “up to 80% less noticeable” than other collapsible devices. I used the Find N function for a while, and the sentence seems to have been confirmed. Compared to the Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 2, the Find N’s folds are difficult to see at any angle, as well as harder to identify by touch. A finger swipe of the
7.1-inch display feels like a regular tablet. As with Samsung’s latest foldable devices, the display includes an ultra-thin layer of glass for added durability. But Oppo’s
ColorOS software means the overall experience isn’t perfect, at least outside of China.
Because it is a Chinese-only product, Find N lacks Google services including Play Store. I had a bit of trouble, but in the end I was able to install the apk from the play store. You can download some apps, but some apps have problems displaying correctly or using Oppo’s enhancements for multitasking. Some like ESPN didn’t open in split screen. In an interview with reporter N
, Pete Lau, founder of OnePlus and now chief product officer at Oppo, said the lack of support for collapsible third-party apps. The device is one of the reasons Oppo is focused exclusively on China when launching this device.
“If the apps that users use the most in their daily lives don’t adapt well to foldable devices, they won’t get the value they have to offer,” says Lau. He added that in China, Oppo is contacting individual developers to optimize their apps for the new design. “And this is a really big, heavy workload.”

OnePlus and Oppo are two sub-brands owned by Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics.
Appropriate app support issues are not unique to Oppo or Find N. This is an issue that Samsung and Google are working to solve. In particular,
Google is working on optimizing Android for foldable devices, and most recently announced a plan to release Android 12L early next year. This update targets foldable phones and tablets and should include improvements that make it easier to multitask and use apps on larger screens.
Lau says Oppo is contacting Google about creating general guidelines for Android of “various aspect ratios”, but his company isn’t working with search giants to optimize Android specifically for Find N.